Alternate
by Believe24
Summary: Oliver falls into a coma and what he sees while in it is another life, where he was never the arrow and Felicity is his wife. He finds himself with everything he never knew he wanted. Meanwhile Diggle and Felicity fight to keep him alive. (Olicicty) au
1. Chapter 1

**Do not own arrow or its characters! **

**This story is about Oliver in a coma trying to figure out what happened and cope with a life that seems far better than his own. Hope you like it!**

One moment it was night, and Oliver was jumping from rooftop to rooftop chasing three heavily armed assassins from the triad, and the next, he was in his bed at daybreak. The room was filling with the rays of the early morning sun, coming through his white curtains. Oliver sat up and rubbed his face, immediately realizing he had no shirt on. In fact he had nothing on but his boxers, his hood was gone. It didn't make any sense.

He remembered being on a roof top, he remembered chasing after one of the triad members who was shooting at him with two pistols. The man jumped off one rooftop to another dropping one gun but continuing to fire with the other. And Oliver could feel the wind passing him as he leaped after him, dodging one bullet after another while loading his bow. He was so focused on loading it he didn't notice how short the rooftop was. He started falling, he heard a thud, and then... black. And then, awoke in his bed.

He didn't know how he got there. If Diggle had found him he would have taken him back to the club, not to his house. If he had blacked out and was injured Dig would have fixed him and waited for him to wake up. Oliver moved each of his limbs, they all felt fine. Had he fallen? Had he hurt himself at all? He put his feet over the side of the bed to the floor and then lay back. His head met a very uncomfortable bump under the covers, something hard. Followed by a rustle and a "hey!" Oliver flung himself from the bed nearly to the point where he hit the wall.

The covers pulled back by a very delicate hand. The person of which it belonged to sat up emerging from them. Her long blonde hair lifted from the pillow and fell down her neck. "Felicity?" Oliver gasped at the total shock of her in his bed. She was in from what he could see, only her bra, her glasses were sitting on the bed side table, and as he already noticed, her hair was down. "Wha-" he couldn't finish his thought, only air was escaping him.

"What?" Felicity asked quizzically seeing absolutely nothing wrong with the situation. She sat up in the bed and continued to stare at him as if he was a frivolous old man.

"What are you doing in my bed?" He asked loudly.

Felicity smiled, "Last time I checked this was our bed. Husband and wife usual share them. Although, to be fair you did buy the bed with your families money, and you did have this bed long before you married me but still." Felicity gave a grunt of laughter at her rambling and Oliver's expression.

"Wife?" He shouted. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She was his assistant, his tracker, his friend, a good friend, but wife? He had never considered even the idea. He felt an attraction to her of course but never acted on it. He felt she was too much of a friend and an overall good person to be romantically affiliated with him. Oliver looked to Felicity wide eyed and dumbfounded; slowly Felicity's expression changed from amused to concerned.

"Yes, wife. Oliver are you feeling alright? You're scaring me a little." She pulled a t-shirt off the ground and put it on. Then walked over to Oliver gripping his shoulders. "Tell me what's wrong." She told him. Oliver looked down. Oliver lifted his hands onto hers and forced them off, finding that having them there made him uncomfortable and confused.

"Felicity you are not my wife!" He exclaimed in the softest voice he could muster. "I don't know what you are talking about."

He saw Felicity's eyes saddened and trail off towards the floor. Even in this most confusing and aggravating situation he didn't like to see her upset. "Oliver you should sit down. You've been springing a fever recently. Maybe you are still sick." She said taking one of his hands and leading him to the bed. He immediately swatted it off.

"No, no! I want to know what's going on! How did I get here? Where's Dig? Where's my hood? I need to get to the cave. What's happening felicity?" He yelled now very angry. He felt like she was avoiding his questions. Lying too perhaps. The thought of them being married was preposterous, and impossible. If she wasn't going to give him answers then he would have to find them out himself.

Oliver turned away toward the door beginning to walk out. "Oliver please! You've been sick for days, and you hit your head. I don't think you're thinking straight. Your fever broke last night but you may not be better. Please sit down. Talk to me."

One of the things she said stopped him. A hit on the head. He remembered that. Right before he blacked out he heard a thud, and ringing. Ringing was a sign of concussion which meant maybe he had landed wrong when he fell. He had fallen, that was exactly what happened. But it wasn't because he had been sick, it was because he was trying to do too many things at once. And the triad member was covering him with a rain of bullets. That part made sense, but Felicity, his wife? That was impossible, he didn't understand it. But he did as Felicity asked. He sat down with her looking into her blue eyes that seemed to mirror the sky. "Do you not remember me?" It seemed like a stupid question and she knew it, it she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I do Felicity, obviously. But we are not married!" He insisted.

"Than you do not remember the last three years?" She bit her lip.

"If the year's 2014, than I do. Just differently. Is it?" He asked, she nodded. "Some things wrong we are not married. You understand me, this isn't my life! I am the hood! That is my life!" He announced. It sounded less crazy in his head. All Felicity did was stare in disbelief.

"It must be the fever Oliver. It must be confusing you, must have messed with your mind. I don't know what this, hood thing, that you keep speaking of is, but I promise this is your life and it's a good one."

Oliver's face went blank. He showed no emotion and stood. "You're right it's probably the fever, you know I'm going to go get some fresh air. Maybe being around familiar surrounding will jump start my memory." He said and walked out. Obviously he didn't believe a word he just said. He just needed an excuse to leave. Before Felicity could say another word Oliver walked out.

Oliver walked for hours into the Glades. He heard Felicity say she had no idea what the hood was and couldn't believe that. She had to know what it was, she was part of the reason the hood existed. When he got the factory he immediately noticed something was wrong not only were the gates still closed but the club itself wasn't there. It made no sense. Oliver hopped the fence and kicked down the doors to see a completely vacant factory, only pieces paper and rusting equipment covered the floors. There was no layer, no signs that it ever existed. It looked exactly as it did the first time he walked in after he came home from the island.

It was impossible, that is, unless what Felicity was saying was true. That he had a fever and was confused. That there was no hood or vigilante. He was married to her and had only hit his head and that was what happened. It was the only thing that made the slightest of sense. Although he could barely believe it, it could be true. The life he remembered wasn't real, just a dream perhaps. The hood wasn't real, a thought he had it hoped to come true. And now he was living it. He didn't want to believe it. He wasn't going to believe it. He needed time to figure out what was going on, but at that moment, he would consider the possibility, not impossible.

And if the life he was living was real, it couldn't be so bad. He was married to Felicity. A woman whose brain was only matched by her beauty. A world where she was his wife, couldn't possibly be bad.

* * *

_ Starling General: reality_

_ Day 1:_

_Felicity had gotten a call at two in the morning from Diggle. She raced to the emergency room as fast as she could when he told her. A nurse led her down a million winding endless halls that eventually led to the section of the hospital where Diggle was waiting for her. _

_"Oh my god! What happened? How bad is it dig?" She asked desperately trying to keep herself together. _

_Dig took a deep breath. "Oliver fell off a roof chasing the triad. He must have fallen four or five stories. By the time I found him he had lost a lot of blood and was unconscious. I got him here as fast as I could but-" Diggle began to trail off, he as well was trying to keep himself together. Felicity had never seen dig like this. Having trouble holing back his emotions, she knew it was bad. "By the time I got him here and the doctors started working on him, he'd slipped into a coma." _

_Felicity looked though the window Diggle had been blocking and saw Oliver on an icu bed with tubes and wires attached to him. Oxygen, IV's, monitors and machines. She could only bare looking at him for a second before she turned away. "Is he going to be okay? How, how is he?" She asked looking up at Diggle with doe eyes watering but not releasing tears. _

_"Umm, the doctors say he has a lot of brain activity, they say it's almost like he's dreaming." He said with a sad smile, but it only lasted for a second. "But they also said that he's in a very deep coma, and not a lot of people come back from ones this bad." A single tear escaped from both of them as Dig touched her shoulder in comfort, he was proud and surprised at how well she was holding herself together. But he knew it was because it hadn't completely sunk in yet for her. "Hes going to have to fight for his life. He's got to want to wake up..." _

**Please tell me if I should continue this because I'm not sure if people will get it. But really enjoyed writing this. And to people who haven't read any of my stories before: I wrote this on a kindle which has horrible spell check! I try to fix whatever I can but please be generous. :). Anyway I hope you enjoyed this and please review, follow and favorite if you want.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Both Felicity and Diggle spent the night with Oliver that night. Dig waited for her to fall asleep first to make sure she was alright. Oliver's vitals held strong and brain activity stayed constant, but there was no improvement to his condition. It was a long night. _

_But a single night for them, felt a lot longer to Oliver._

* * *

In what felt like the week that followed Oliver's awakening he spent much of his time alone, just as he had when he returned from the island. That fact, at least was still so. He had been on an island alone for five years, but he didn't become the arrow when he returned. He spent time in isolation, avoiding his mother and struggling sister. It wasn't until he stepped foot in the Queen consolidated building that he began recovering from his experience, and that was thanks to Felicity Smoak. From what she told him, when they met his life started to return to normal. She was the reason he decided to become the CEO, and she was the reason he stayed out of trouble.

Felicity kept hoping that Oliver's memories would return if she told him about their relationship. Every once in a while she would see his face light up and she would think something had back to him, but it would only be when something happened that was the same as what Oliver considered reality. Still, Oliver didn't believe what he was living was actually his life. The life he remembered for three years was too vivid to be just a dream.

The arrow had been his life, his purpose in life. Diggle and Felicity had been his parters and trusty friends. And now in the reality he found himself living in, Felicity was his wife and Diggle had gone back to being just his driver. He couldn't accept that the hours of time he had spent getting to know Diggle had in reality been just meaningless conversations in a car.

After the third day of people trying to bring back his memory Oliver left the house. It was worse than when he had come home from the island. Then, people had been welcoming him back, hugging him, asking him about his experiences, and they all eventually accepted that he wasn't the same man after only a couple of days. Now, after "losing" his memory, they were constantly talking about his life, comforting him, and the worst of all, not giving up hope. He couldn't stand it. Oliver wasn't a hopeful man, he was the kind of person that would see an infected limb and cut it off before it could even try to recover. Because if you chop off the infected area there is no way the infection can spread. Others would argue that if you gave the limb a chance it could heal, but to him even the chance of it not was reason to amputate. It was like that for his memory. The moment they told him what he remembered wasn't true he gave up thinking it would return to normal. He didn't want to hope or pray! Prayer never worked for him or anyone he knew, and hope was just an empty emotion. He'd rather move on.

His way of moving on was leaving the house of hopeful people and sleeping in a tree. That's what he did! For two days he slept in a tree and wandered throughout the glades, trying to help out those who needed it. He couldn't stand listening to Thea and Felicity give him words of encouragement for another minute. He couldn't stand them saying everything was going to be okay. Everything he knew for the past three years was a lie! He didn't understand why they didnt get how major it was. Felicity continuously told him she loved him, expecting him to say it back. But he didn't love her, not yet. It takes a long time to love a person; the attraction was always there and he felt it, but he couldn't all of a sudden say I love you back. Especially when he didn't know how he felt about her. He wanted to love her, but he didn't yet.

He didn't want to go back to the house until he was absolutely sure he wasn't dreaming. So he was sure that what he was seeing was real. By the time he had walked around the Glades the first day he had felt the cold wind on his cheeks, felt a leaf crumple in his hand, smelled a hotdog from a stand. Felt every sensation he could. He didn't think you could smell a hotdog in a dream, or taste one on your lips. Feel the cold air fly by you when you are asleep in your heated room. All it did was confuse Him and frustrated him more. Eventually he did go home. There was nothing he could feel there that he couldn't at the house.

His return brought scowls and tears from his family members, the tears of course from felicity. All of the faces of three doctors, his sister, his wife, the kitchen staff, and one that was too blurry to see since they were too far away. He shoved people aside to get to the person, even from far away the person had an echoing familiarity. Something about them he knew. As he got closer he could see it was a woman, longish blonde wavy hair, professionally dressed, a relaxed but wary posture, he knew this person well. And her presence made him stop in his tracks wide eyed and bewildered. The person turned. Her face was indeed sweet and gentle, but carried years of pressure on it, but it didn't keep her from smiling.

"Mom!" Oliver couldn't keep his composure. This shock overtook a half naked felicity in his bed by far. It was more shocking than when he "remembered" Slade returning, more emotional than Tommy's death. Moira saw his uneasiness immediately.

"Oliver is there something wrong? What is it? I'm here for you." She said gently and touched his shoulder. The touch no matter how soft and warm, felt icy and dead on Oliver's skin.

"No, no you can't be there for me! Because you're dead!" He said swiping her hand away with passionate anger. The swarm of people gasped, "I can accept Felicity being my wife but I watched you die! There's no way you can be here! There's, there's no way!" He really hadn't accepted any of it yet. But Felicity turning out to be his wife in reality was certainly different than finding out that his mother was still alive.

If this was his real life than surly he couldn't have dreamt up such pain. The day he watched her die was by far the worst day of his life. Even if he hadn't shown it or acknowledged his pain, it was.

He had a nearly rabid look on his face as he bolted for the stairs. He slammed the doors and was ready to break everything in his bedroom. Perhaps even jump out the window. Maybe if he was dead things would start making sense for him again. But instead he sat on the floor of the room and reached under the bed for the case he had brought home from the island. Surprisingly, it was actually there, but there was no bow inside. Maybe the Oliver they all knew didn't know how to shoot. Then how did he survive those five years? He probably never told Felicity which means he would never know.

Felicity went after him a few minutes later. Oliver was in no mood. But she stayed anyway. Oliver remained on the floor as Felicity made her way to the bed and stared at him. She looked sad, sympathetic even. "Oh Oliver, what do you remember? What do you think happened to your mother?"

The question coming from any one else would make Oliver want to hurl a brick, but Felicity had a way of breaking down his rough and angry exterior. He could never knowingly hurt her. He hung his head in sorrow, finally relaxing his shoulders and just letting his head swing. "I watched her die." He said solemnly.

There was a long pause. Oliver noticed Felicity spend a lot of time staring at her shoes. He didn't blame her. He wouldn't know how to follow up something like that either. Without her head moving she once again put her hands on Oliver's shoulders, and this time he allowed them to stay. She keeled down to his level on her floor, using his shoulders to balance herself. She looked him dead in the eye but with a sweet expression.

"I can't imagine what's going on inside your head. Something like that you don't just get over. I understand why you are hesitant of talking about what's happened. But you've got to let someone in." She said. Funny, Thea had said the same thing when he had come back from the island. If this was all his brain it was recycling old material. "This must be so hard for you, not knowing what's going on, not remembering your life. It's gotta suck." She took her hand and strokes Oliver's hair, even though it was short; it felt soft running past her hand. "But it sucks for me too! I want my Oliver back. So please try, if not for yourself than for me."

Oliver hadn't thought of it affecting Felicity. She was right, he was being unfair to her, if everything was real, which he was slowly accepting, he needed to be better to her. It was no secret of why he must have fallen in love with her before, and all though he hadn't started falling in love with her again, he could see himself doing so in the future. She's gorgeous, intelligent, outgoing. The person he had thought he had been for three years wasn't good enough for her, maybe the one she fell in love with was.

She was still there crouching down in front of him with the same sad smile she had at the beginning of everything. She closed her eyes. Slowly, and yet unexpectedly she learned in and gave him a short but sweet kiss on the forehead. Oliver who had been jittery all day was still. "We'll get through this. And I'll be here for you, for anything."

Oliver helped her rise to her feet. He still said nothing, he was thinking about the kiss, it wasn't even something he could really feel on his skin, but he could feel it everywhere else. It was the strangest feeling and because of that his face showed contemplation. But Felicity only read it as uninterest. She shook her head in sorrow feeling that she had lost her husband completely. But she didn't want to give up, for to her, she had been married to Oliver for two wonderful years, they had shared great memories and a great love. She didn't want to give that up.

Oliver was still busy staring at his shoes with concentration, he didn't notice Felicity moving closer to him until her arms were wrapped around his neck. Her face moved in closer until her lips hit his. To give him a real, honest, heart felt, loving kiss. One of those long ones, the one in a thousand that you can't help but remember. This being the first one that Oliver could remember, was definitely one of those. There was something familiar about her lips on his, it was like they belonged there. It felt like they were at home. One of her hands moved up to his cheek as she felt Oliver finally kissing back. It took all she could to stop and when she finally did she could see Oliver didn't want it to end either. She breathed out a small laugh.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I couldn't remember the last time we really kissed and, I wanted to be able to remember, because I have a feeling we aren't going to be doing that again in a very long time. Because right now, you don't remember why you love me which is why you don't, love me." There was a pause. Oliver watched as a tear rolled down Felicity's face. He wanted to comfort her but how could he when it was his fault? "I'm rambling again. I'm sorry. Ill see you tomorrow."

Without another word she walked out. Oliver caught her hand. "Felicity. We will get through this." If it weren't for what he had just experienced he would be saying differently, but what he felt when she kissed him was something too good to give up on. He saw Felicity's sad little smile return to her face which he took as a good sign. It was a start. And at least felicity knew he was trying. He really was trying. But his world was upside down. It was going to take time.

* * *

_"How is he today?" Felicity asked the doctor eagerly after awakening to nurses prodding at Oliver's motionless body._ At that same time Diggle walked in with two cups of coffee and handed one to her. The doctor took a glimpse at his chart.

_"Well the good news is that we have been monitoring his spline, and it seems that the internal bleeding has subsided. Along with the rest of the bleeding around his body." There was an odd lengthy pause. "The bad news is his coma isn't better, if not a tad worse. You see in cases where we believe the patient is "dreaming", we sometimes see the pAtient fall in a little deeper, as Oliver started doing and hour ago. We call it Deep Sleeping. When a patient starts getting comfortable in their coma or dream state. And if this continues he is at risk for asphyxiation."_

_Neither Felicity not Diggle really understood a lick of what he said. But they did hear the most basic and most important piece of information. Oliver wasn't getting better._

**And that was chapter two! Let me know what you think, leave suggestion, stuff like that. Time will be skipped a little in future chapters just a heads up. Thank you for reading, will update soon but I want to work on my other arrow fan fiction (which you should check out too ;) follow and favorite if you want I hope you liked this. **


	3. Chapter 3

_One day led to four. No one was optimistic, except Felicity. Everyday she'd see his brain waved get a little stronger when she'd talk to him; see his face twitch when she touched him; she swore he would smile when she mentioned his favorite foods. The doctors didn't confirm any of it, except the brain activity. That was still high and a good sign. The only good sign. Felicity snarled at their stupid outcomes, and their stupid faces. She couldn't look at them. They didn't see Oliver as a man, just a patient. They were the best doctors in the city and they would stare at Oliver like he was a smorgasbord of surgeries. How she hated them._

_She visited Oliver everyday after work, staying for hours. She didn't know why and she knew he probably didn't know she was there, but she felt safe there with him. He always made her feel safe._

_It had been four days of nothing for her, but for Oliver, it had been months... four months._

* * *

Oliver had been spending a lot of time shooting trees in the backyard. It kept his archery skills up since he was no longer the hood, never the hood. He had to remind himself that that life wasn't real, he was never the hood, he was just a good archer. He had even thought of becoming the hood in his real life, but the Starling he woke up to wasn't like the one he remembered. Crime was unmistakably lower to the point where the hoods interaction would be counterproductive.

Instead he bought a bow online and drew targets on the trees. He got bullseye every time. Perhaps he had been an archer on that island in this life too. Oliver sat back in the grass admiring his work. All the arrows were nearly on top of each other they were so precise, just like the hood. He was happy he wasn't the hood anymore too. He felt like being the arrow had taken away a part of his humanity. Without it in his life he could have one, and be a normal guy. He didn't know why but that seemed appealing.

Felicity walked up behind him and sat in the grass with him. "What are you doing?" She asked in a monotone voice.

"Just examining my work." He replied. Oliver still felt a little strange around her. He still couldn't accept her as his wife.

Felicity put on her defeated smile, he didn't notice. "I think... you're still trying to figure out where you are. Trying to find a way back to that reality where you're the Starling vigilante and you save the day... It must have been something special if you want to get back to it so bad." She rubbed her hand back and forth across his thigh. It made him uneasy to feel such affection from her. But that didn't mean it didn't feel good.

He had told Felicity about what he thought he used to do. Go leaping from one building to another, catching criminals with a bow and arrow. However he did leave out a certain IT girl that helped him a long the way from time to time. "Felicity please, it's the only life I remember. I can't just give it up at the drop of a hat." He said a bit irritated. Felicity removed her hand and that's when Oliver noticed how defeated she looked. She shook her head.

"I wish I knew what was going on inside your head Oliver. I know the Oliver I knew is just under that tough skin of yours. You're improving everyday but you're just taking too long. I used to know what you were thinking before you did. Sometimes we didn't even have to talk; we would sit on that couch in the parlour, your arms around me and we would just sit there in silence. Just the two of us, and just sit and enjoy each other's company. I want to do that again, because I've never been happier in your arms. So try would you."

Her voice seemed angry and erratic, but he understood where she was coming from. He wouldn't mind remembering them on the couch himself. He had thought of such a situation in his memories; having her nuzzled into his arms and just being able to hold her. He had almost loved her in his memories but never acted on them. He wanted it to happen too. He wanted to respond to her but didn't know how. "Tommy's here." She said, stood up and left.

It had been awkward for the entire four months. Oliver didn't know how to explain himself to Felicity, he ,couldn't tell whether he liked this life or the one he remembered better, all he knew was that he only remembered the one. There were so many surprises he walked into, from Sarah never being in the boat to begin with to Tommy still being alive. When Tommy first walked in the door Oliver couldn't speak, he was just so happy room see his friend.

It being another two weeks since seeing his long time, thought to be dead friend, Oliver was excited. He walked into the entry hall, his hands a bit sticky from the sap on the trees he had been pulling arrows out of. Tommy was there waiting for him. Oliver took him in. He looked just as he remembered, his face was smiling, his handshake was firm, the hug it turned into felt welcoming. Everything he remembered about Tommy and some things that he had forgotten. It was so good to see him. Tommy nodded to Felicity and led Oliver to his car.

They drove for a while in silence, Tommy couldn't help but notice Oliver continuously staring at him. Oliver knew he was doing it but couldn't stop. It was just too surreal to stop. His best friend was happy and alive! "What?" Tommy demanded laughing under his breath.

Oliver finally got the strength to stop. "Nothing. It's just I haven't seen you in a while is all." That at least was too. He wasn't keen on the idea of bringing up his death he thought he had endured. He would if he had too. But he wasn't going to bring it up.

"I was gone for a week, before that was month at most. You've just not had the time to see me. Having that, head injury and all. Still think your mom's a zombie?" He joked, looking from the road to Oliver and back.

Oliver couldn't help but crack a laugh. He missed Tommy's humor, his jokes, his laugh. It was good to have him back. "No, but I still have my doubts about some things and people."

* * *

_"Oliver has been in his coma for five days, and he hasn't improved nor worsened." __doctor Farmington started. "I think it's time that we try something a little more drastic. I k ow it hasn't been long but I suggest we try neural simulators. Electric shocks to Oliver's brain. It has very promising results in patients like him. 50 percent wake up or improve soon after treatment. We need your go ahead." Said doctor Farmington._

_Diggle and Felicity looked to each other puzzled. "Dont you need a family member to make these kind of situations? On his emergency care form?" Dig asked. The doctor nodded. _

_"Yes his first choice is his mother,who to my understanding is dead. Thea is his second choice, but from whAt I hear she's not reachable at the time. Which leaves, you." Farmington said pointing to Felicity. _

_Felicity was without words as she saw his finger point to her. Oliver had put her in charge of his care if he couldn't make medical decisions. Her! Out of all the people in the world. "Me? I'm Oliver's emergency care person? Me?" She was so surprised. She didn't know what to do. Farmington nodded. _

_"You are solely responsible for Oliver's care. All of his medical decisions will be run by you for your go ahead. Did you not know?" She shook her head growing angry. Dig was equally surprised and angry. "This must be a lot to take in, but we shouldn't waist a lot of time. May we perform the procedure?" He asked eagerly. _

_Felicity __bit her lip, still disdained and angry at Oliver's discretion/decision. But she didn't want to think of the idiot who put her in charge, but of the man who risked his life to save the city, the man who laid on that hospital bed, the man who had become her friend. She turned to Dr. Farmington. "Do it."_

_Within minutes doctors stormed in attracting wires and monitors to Oliver and two small electro simulators to the temples of Oliver's head. Dr. Farmington counted off to his staff of nurses and fellow doctors, announcing the start of the procedure. "Start first wave of shocks in three two..."_

* * *

Oliver and Tommy laughed half way to the club about Tommy's harebrained schemes to pick up girls on his trip to the Cayman Islands. But suddenly he felt a jolt in his brain and stopped laughing immediately. Tommy stopped too.

"You alright buddy?" Tommy asked one hand on his shoulder, the other on the wheel. Oliver clenched his head, it felt like a massive headache. "Yeah, I think I'm just..." He started an excruciating cry of pain as the small jolt turned into a massive wave of pain, It felt like a shock that led to indescribable pain. It was something he had never felt before, it was worse a feeling than when he had to dig a bullet out of his own flesh or having his torso cut open with a sword. It was like the two combined, in his brain. He blacked out.

_What ever they were doing in reality was hurting him in his new one..._

**Finally started writing again! Hope the next chapter will be soon but sometimes I just don't feel like writing. I was going to write yesterday but I got a flat tire on the highway and that are up a ton of time as well as getting a new tire after I changed it. I'm a new driver so what are you gonna do? That's my excuse. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Maybe check out my other arrow fic Gone. Review follow and favorite if you want. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

_"Stop! Stop! Stop.." Felicity cried desperately as she watched the vitals on Oliver's screen spike and drop a thousand times. Oliver's head involuntarily shook from one side to another as the stocks were administered. His heart rate was erratic, his brainwaves were unreadable. Felicity was halfway in the door wailing and screaming at the doctors. Diggle had his hands around her body restraining her from attacking the doctors who were doing this to Oliver. "Stop! Stop! You're hurting him!" But her words were not heard. They were virtually ignored. _

_The doctors focused on his vitals and stats. They weren't listening to Felicity, Dr. Farmington was fascinated at what he was seeing, too entranced to tell anyone what to do. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. His brain was not only not responding to the treatment but fighting it! It was astonishing. It wasn't until one of the nurses yelled his name that he turned away from the monitors. _

_"He shouldn't be able to take much more of this at this rate. I think we should stop. Is that what we should do Dr?" She asked calmly. Farmington's eyes flickered as he focused on her. _

_"Yes."He trailed off again. "Yes. Yes! Right, stop the procedure!" It couldn't have been a minute sooner because Dig had just lost his grip. Felicity came running at Dr Farmington with immense rage. She wasn't one to fight or lose it but she so close to raising her fist. She pounded her closed fists on the doctor who didn't even moved, her punches had no heart behind them. She gave up wuickly and rushed to Oliver. The nurses were all piled onto one side of his bed checking his vitals, looking for neurological damage or improvement, and helping him stabilize. _

_Felicity was in tears. She grabbed Oliver's closest hand and stared at his closed eyes. No one could tell what the damage could be. No one had foreseen such horrible effects, because there was no cause for such issues._

_"Oliver, please be okay. Don't scare me like this again. I don't know what I would do without you."_

* * *

Time had been still for Oliver. He had felt the jolt, the pain, then nothing. Everything was black. No images, no smells, no sounds. But in an instant he heard something. So faint. Like an echo that had crossed a hundred miles. "I don't know what I would do without you..."

"Felicity..." His eyes fluttered open. The blurs slowly cleared away to a distinct face. It was Felicity staring over him with a relieved smile. Where was he now? Was he in the reality he remembered with the hood, the supposed dream? Or what he now referred to as reality?

"Oliver. Thank god you're okay. We don't know what happened. But you're going to be fine." Felicity spoke softly. Oliver smiled brightly and blinked a couple times. To the left of felicity, Tommy stood equally relieved.

That was that. If something like that hadn't wrenched him from the reality than it had to be real. There was no more denying it. No more delays. He had to accept right there and then that this was his life. He had to for the felicity and himself. "I'm fine. I'm pretty sure I'm fine." She rubbed her hands through his short hair, staring at him relieved and lovingly. He hadn't been fair to her the day before. He had been rude and agitated. He wanted to apologize, but his words were stopped.

"All I did yesterday was nag you and nag you. I can't make you stop being stubborn. I can't force you to be anyone but Oliver. No matter which Oliver that is." She took his hand and stood from her perch on the bed, having the same little defeated smile she always had when she was upset. Oliver squeezed it.

"No, no. You were right. I haven't been fair to you. It's time to face reality. I have a good, simple life, I have my best friend, and you, are my beautiful wonderful wife." The sediment brought a tear to Felicity's eye. "But I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not sure I love you the same way you love me. That's one thing you can't rush me on. From what I remember I've always been attracted to you. So I'm going to start acting on what I'm feeling." Oliver wasn't very good at acting on his emotions. But he was suddenly married, he had been married for years it turned out, which meant he had acted on love before.

She intertwined her hands into his. "I'm just happy that you're okay, again." She said happily.

"Like you said... you don't know what you'd do without me." He joked repeating what he had heard her say. Her head jerked up, she was smiling but quizzically.

"I never said that, but I suppose."

Oliver torso rose from his bed, his head stirring. She must be mistaken he thought. He knew he heard her say it when he was waking up. "Yes, yes you did. I heard you." He was sure and he spoke sure of himself. But Felicity returned his expression with confusion.

"Oliver I didn't say that. I hadn't been speaking when you were waking up. My first words were, 'thank God you're okay.' I'm sure of it. We were all silent until you spoke my name. Maybe you were dreaming." She said reassuringly. She put her hand on his leg but he intercepted. What he heard was too vivid to have been his imagination.

"No, no you said it I heard you. Felicity, I'm sure." She said seriously.

"But I didn't say it." She responded just as serious. Then they sat in silence. Oliver was her but she was too sad to look back. She thought they were making progress, but he wasn't giving in. When he was sure of something he didn't let it go, she knew that. That's why she was sad. He wasn't going to let this go easily. "Okay. Believe what you want, I'm just glad you are okay. I'm sick of starting over." Oliver smiled. He wasn't giving in on what he heard but liked knowing that felicity was there for him through it all. "Can I do something?" Felicity asked biting her lip.

"What is it bad?" He asked, his smile turning into a large grin in anticipation of what she was going to do."

"No. Remember how I was telling you about how things used to be? How we would just wrap our arms around each other and lay on the couch?" Oliver nodded. She had told him earlier and he had to say it did appeal to him. Without another word Felicity climbed the rest of the way onto the bed. She scooted herself beside him till her head was above the pillow they now shared. Oliver felt it to be a bit awkward for her to invite herself onto his hospital bed but did not detour her. In fact, he sat up enabling her to rest her head against his now outstretched arm, and wrapped it around her shoulder as she curled up into him. One of her arms circled around his neck and the other rested on his chest. Oliver's other arm rested on her hip, not surrounding it but resting on top.

Then there was silence once again. But this wasn't a bad silence created by harsh words or misunderstandings. This was a good silence, one that existed because there was nothing that needed to be expressed through words. His hand surrounded her shoulders his grip growing tighter every time she moved. She buried her face in his side as she realized this was the closest they had been in months, this was the best moment they had shared in months. It was the first time in months that her husband, Oliver, seemed to have returned to her, even if it was just for one minute. She wanted that minute to last forever, but she wouldn't trade it for the world.

For Oliver, it was a moment of realization. Felicity in his arms, it felt so warm. She felt warm. And for the first time he felt like her husband, and he felt her happiness, could see it.

Felicity had a tear in her eye. Because she knew that it wouldn't last forever but she wanted it to. It felt like she had her Oliver back, and she wanted him to stay. One minute turned into two, two turned into five and neither stirred. Neither wanted it to end. Being like that made them feel like all of their problems had melted away in,each other's arms. "I missed this, I missed this so much." Felicity told him squeezing his middle. Oliver didn't respond but nodded understanding now what there was to be missed. Felicity repositioned herself slightly as an uncomfortable question suddenly emerged in her head. "Do you miss being the hood." She asked in a low voice. She didn't look up at him or even move, her tone sad and scared for the answer. But she wanted to know.

Oliver held her side tightly as he looked up to think. Felicity closed her eyes, if he said yes that meant that somehow the life he remembered was still better than his real one, she loathed for that answer. "No." She heard. No, he said no, he didnt. "At times like these, Felicity, I don't see how I could. I don't miss being the arrow. Being the arrow took away parts of my humanity, at least I thought it did. I don't think I ever wanted to be the arrow. I would have preferred a simple life if I could choose what I remember. One, just like this."

Felicity dug her head into his side at the response. She couldn't of asked for a better one. And Oliver meant it. He had loved Being the arrow, but it wasn't a life. Without it he could have a chance at a real one. And he liked the one he found himself in.

* * *

_The day was ending and Diggle came up one more time to visit Oliver. Felicity of course was still there, half asleep with her head on the foot of his bed. He didn't know the last time she had slept in her own bed, or even slept at all. _

_He loudly cleared his throat in the doorway and Felicity bobbed her head up. "What? What? I'm good, just working." She announced loudly; she corrected her glasses and found two nurses staring at her and Diggle with a big grin on his face. _

_"Come on, it's time I took you home." He told her._

_"What? No, no he just got over that horrible experiment they did on him, and they don't know if he was effected or what was effected." She paused gathering her thoughts. "He could wake up tonight." She stared at Dig with her doe eyes, believing every word she said. But Dig shook his head. _

_"He could wake up every night, but that doesn't mean you have to be here every night. You need to go home. He'll be here tomorrow. Come on, let me take you home." He said out stretching his hand. Felicity blinked her eyes sadly but placed her small, frail hand into his strong, reliable one. He brought her to her feet nodded to her and led her outside of the hospital room. _

_"I want him to wake up Diggle." She said sadly. _

_"So do I." He said looking back. _

**It's been a while since my last update, sorry, I've just been kinda lazy. And at the half way point I couldn't figure out where to go. But now I have a strong idea of what's going to happen in the next chapter so look forward to that. Please review and give me some ideas too, I want to know where you guys want me to take this. Follow and favorite the story if you want, maybe check out my other arrow story... if you want. Thank you for reading so far! **


	5. Chapter 5

_"How long has it been?" Felicity asked Diggle obviously having an argument, she was well aware of the answer. She stood in her apartment doorway refusing to let dig enter._

_"10 days.." he mumbled. _

_"10 days!" She exclaimed. "10 days __since he fell into his coma! That's it! And you bring that up?" Felicity wasn't just angry, she was enraged, dumbfounded to hear even the idea of giving up on Oliver. "How dare you call yourself his friend!" She snarled._

_"Hey! Don't talk to me like that! You think you're the only one hurt from all of this? I'm just stating the possibility, the POSSIBILITY that Oliver might not wake up felicity." _

_"Don't even say that!" She yelled getting angrier and angrier. She tried to hold back threads but it was hard when so many emotions were flowing. _

_"I have to remind you! Things always don't have a fairy tale ending! There is a good chance that that boy is going to die, go septic, or brain dead. I have to remind you because you sit at his bed for hours a day half convinced that if you talk to him he's going to miraculously wake up. You can't be positive all the time Felicity. I'm sorry I have to remind you of this but I... I'm sorry for yelling." Eventually his voice trailed off as he saw the pain in her eyes. _

_She had no more anger to let out. Though she was still angry. "I don't believe in fairy tale endings Dig. I haven't since my dad left, I'm just a hopeful person I guess. I promise I don't think he's going to wake up all the time, but if you ever bring up pulling the plug again I swear to god Diggle-"_

_"Okay, okay. Come on, I have substitute vigilanty- ing today." Dig said leading her out of her apartment to their lair. "And you're right, it's only been ten days."_

* * *

Ten days, that's how much time had gone by in the real world, but for Oliver, it was so much longer.

It had been a year.

In a year a lot can happen to a man, especially to such a quick man like Oliver. Yes, sometimes he gazed up at the sky and wondered if his old life was out there somewhere, but you can't blame a man for wondering. He did it every day. Every night. Just in case. It was a way to remind him of his past experiences. He loved his life though, but still, he wondered.

"Oliver, what are you looking at?" Felicity asked him. Oliver was in the back yard with his father's telescope. When he was younger his father would show Him the constellations and tell him the names. He was fascinated by the sky.

"Just examining the stars, Felicity." He said not moving but breaking out a smile at the sound of his wife's voice.

All she could do was smile back. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her front against the back of his chair. "I think you're still trying to figure out where you are."

"You always say that." He nudged.

"Because I always believe it's true." She sighed. Finally Oliver's head turned from the telescope. "Is the other life still better? After a year?"

Oliver grabbed her arms and led her towards him while he still sat. Then swooped her onto his lap. Her arms once again wrapped around his neck. "No." He said waiting for a smile to appear on her face. "This year with you has been... one of the best of my life. I can't imagine a better life than this. I never want to go back."

Felicity kissed him happily but the look on his face did not wreak the same joy. "What?" She asked.

"I hear things. I hear your voice. Just after I turn out the lights and I'm about to go to sleep. I hear things like 'i hope he wakes up.' And it's your voice. I heard Diggle last night too. It Sounds ridiculous. But I heard him, clear as day. It was clear and it was his voice, it just seemed far away. "

"And what does Diggle say?" She asked.

"Go home. He'll be here tomorrow." She said with an eerie voice.

Felicity kissed him again. The taste of her lips made Oliver feel like there wasn't a trouble in the world, or a single voice in his head. "Don't think anything of it. I don't like the idea of voices in your head even if they're mine. Please. I'm sure it was nothing. Let's just go to bed. No,worries in the bed, if we just-"

"Felicity you're rambling again." He said smiling. It was something that seemed would never change. But it was okay, he thought it was cute. Felicity nodded and both went inside for bed.

They had gotten in bed at 10:30, Felicity was asleep very soon after. But Oliver wouldn't allow his eyes to shut as images of a green hood and the woman who gave it to him circled about his brain. And Roy. In the year that had passed he hadn't tried to contact Roy. He didn't know if the boy even existed in this world. He didn't want to know. It would confuse everything.

He still wondered about his real experience on the island. If what he remembered really happened. He knew Sara hadn't gone with him, and there was no record of a Slade. He told no one of his experiences before the memory loss. He was lost because of it. And the voices didn't help. He wasn't dreaming or even half asleep when he heard them and they were only of Diggle and Felicity. He didn't know what they meant.

Oliver shook himself from his thoughts and reached for the lights. He scooted near felicity and stayed on his back. Felicity who was asleep moved closer as well, sensing his closeness. They had been sleeping in the same bed since the four month mark. When Oliver started falling in love all,over again. After a year, he could now say for sure, that he did love her. Everything about her. So he laid next to her and closed his eyes, hoping that the voices would subside for her sake. And for his and his sanity.

_"Sometimes I think he can hear me. His mouth twitches, like he's smiling."_ Then a laugh. _"Do you think that's possible?" _

Oliver shot his head up shaking his entire head, scrambling to reach the lights. It flickered on and Oliver looked around alarmed and confused. That was her voice! That was Felicity's voice! Clear as day that was her. It wasn't a dream, she wasn't talking in her sleep, but it was her. Felicity herself sat up in bed equally alarmed.

"Did you hear that?"

"What? I heard nothing, I hear nothing. What's wrong?"

"It was your voice." He said touching her face. Stroking her cheek. "It was you..." He whispered again.

* * *

_"Sometimes I think he can hear me. His mouth twitches, like he's smiling." Then she laughs. "Do you think that's possible?"_

_Doctor Farmington looked at Felicity like she was a five year old child. Innocent and clueless. Felicity was brilliant, but hopeful. And hope can mislead you, the doctor knew that. And also knew how hard a time she was going through. "We do not fully understand comas. Your friend seems to be in a continuous dream according to his brain reading, and yet when he wakes up he could remember nothing." _

_"You said he has to want to wake up. The Oliver I know __would be fighting. And if he's not, well, then it must be a pretty good dream." She sat by his bed and stroked his hair. She felt like it helped him. She'd try anything to wake him up. But doctor Farmington didn't seem nearly as supportive. _

_"Felicity, did you read through his care forms?" She nodded at his question. "Did you see his wishes? Where it said that after three months of no change he wanted to be removed from the support machines?" He said this solemnly and quietly. _

_Felicity felt that she didn't hear him right. After three months of no change they would unplug him? No. They couldn't do that he needed more time! It had been only ten days but having a date, brought it all into perspective. It all became real, __and the most terrifying thing she had ever heard._

_"No. That can't happen. What if he needed just one more day? Huh? You'd be killing him! You can't just kill him!" She screamed. She was outraged and terrified. It was the scariest thing she'd ever heard. He had a date written on his coffin before he even died!_

_"Three months is far away. I just thought I should prepare you." He reacted calmly. _

_"How can you call yourself a healer? You're supposed to save people not kill them." She stormed out to the elevator in tears. She didn't know what to do with herself if Oliver didn't wake up in that time. She would have to sign the forms, and watch them take out the machines. She wouldn't be able to bare it. _

_Diggle coincidentally was just getting off. It was his usual time to visit. He grabbed felicity by her shoulders keeping her at arms length and keeping her from stepping farther. "What's wrong?" Asked another voice from behind Diggle. It was Sara. _

_Felicity and her weren't close but she removed herself from Diggle and buried herself in Sara's arms. "They said that Oliver has three months... before they kill him!"_

_There was silence which she took as understanding. But when she revealed her face from Sara's arms that wasn't what she saw. They had a look on their faces, of acceptance, and understanding. Understanding for the doctors and Oliver's wish._

* * *

Oliver had stayed up all night.

The next morning he and Felicity sat in the parlour. He didn't know what to say to her. Nothing in the past year had made any sense. His job was constant, he could barely remember each day, his memories haunted him, the life he thought he had confused him, and even though he loved her he kept her at arms distance. He knew these things. Felicity did too.

The voices drove him crazy. They were so real but they said the most random things. They always had a sad lapse to them though, that was the other thing, the voices were always sad.

Felicity had sat him on the couch to talk about the voices. But Oliver didn't want to talk about them. He wanted something else. He resisted talking about them.

"Please. I don't know what's wrong but I want to know." Felicity insisted.

"No." He answered. Both were getting angry.

"Tell me what they say!"

"No. It's my business." He raised his voice and stood up. Felicity gave in.

"Alright. I know I nag you about these things but I don't want our life to take a step backwards again. I want us to go forward." She said, her head down.

"It will." He sat back down. It was the perfect time to talk about what he wanted. Sure, a new bow and sex would be great, but not that. He just didn't know how to say it. They sat in silence until he could think of something, which he finally did. "Can I build something?"

To this felicity laughed. She had never seen Oliver make anything especially something of wood. That was all she could imagine him using. "You, building something? Like what? And you don't need my permission really." She laughed.

"In this case I think I do." He said remaining serious.

"Then what is it?" She asked still laughing at him building something.

"A crib." And suddenly everything became serious. He wanted them to have a baby.

**I hope you liked this installment. Today was my first year as a senior! I am looking forward to the new year... I guess... But it also means the chapters will be coming out more slow. I sometimes write in study hall but I'm NOT A MORNING PERSON! **

**Please review tell me what you think of the chapter and what you want to happen (no one ever does this :p) follow and favorite if you want blehhh. Sooo close to a hundred follows! Really close actually. Thank you for your interest and support. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_Every time Felicity woke up to another day she felt her heart wrench. Another day for her was one less day for Oliver. Having a dead line was the worst feeling in the world, the worst. It took all she had not to cry every time she thought of it. She felt like she was never happy. _

_Diggle knew exactly how she felt and tried his best to talk her through her emotions, but he wasn't an emotional guy which meant they were near opposites. He told Felicity what it was like to loose someone and the five stages of grief. _

_Denial_

_Anger_

_Bartering_

_Depression_

_Acceptance._

_She listened half heartedly for she was denying the fact that Oliver was dying and that she was already in the process of grief. Oliver changed her life, she came from being a simple IT girl, to the backstage of a secret operation that stumped all of Starling city. Not only would she miss being the secret hero behind the hood, but she would deeply miss the man under the hood himself. _

_As usual felicity got to Oliver's hospital room at seven o'clock after her office job. As always he was there waiting for her, not like he had a choice to. Felicity hated hospitals, but she liked his room. He had a big window that overlooked the city behind the head of his bed. It distracted her from the tubes and wires in Oliver's body. From up there the city looked so lovely, the flashing lights and cars passing by. Even the sound of the cars accelerating past the hospital. Felicity loved that sound, she was used to the sound of cars passing by her house living in the apartment, it helped her sleep. _

_Oliver knew that, he knew so many things about her. She opened up to him so easily and could tell him nearly anything. He was a good listener too, it always felt like he wanted to hear what she had to say. DDiggle was like that too but it wasn't the same. She liked Oliver's smile. As she thought she realized she liked a lot of things about Oliver. _

_Before she sat down she looked at his face, slowly but surely it was becoming thinner and thinner, his complexion was paler as well. But he was smiling, smiling through his coma clear as day. "What are you smiling about?" She whispered and sat in the chair by the foot of his bed. His smile didn't move. He looked happy and even though it was a sight for Felicity's sore eyes it made her sad; the doctors told her that he had to want to come out of his coma,and the smile told her he was at least content with what he was dreaming about. _

_Still, she missed his boyish smile and charm. She really did miss seeing it. She stroked his hair, the feeling was so natural. His smile remained. Now she hoped he was smiling for her even though she knew he wasn't. "Its been two and a half weeks. We can't wait forever." _

* * *

What was he smiling about? He was smiling at the felicity he saw. Her eyes were wide and glistening as she walked throughout the door of their shared office space. Oliver had been stuck at work and couldn't see her as much or go everywhere with her. He hated that. The more time they spent together the more he loved her. She want the Felicity he remembered in the slightest though. This one was rambled but was as confident at the same time. She had faith in herself and wasn't afraid to speak out. The felicity he thought he had known wasn't like that.

But he didn't think of that anymore. How could he when she was standing in the door of his office, her torso having a small bulge. "Well?" He asked.

"It's a boy this time!" She Squealed excitedly rushing into his arms.

This time... Oliver had liked almost four years in this reality. Two since he had asked if Felicity wanted to have a baby. And now they were having their second.

He remembered when they had their first baby, felicity had gotten pregnant with their daughter soon after he asked.. Now three years later they were having a second. Oliver couldn't believe the time that had gone by. Watching his daughter grow was one of the most amazing things he had ever experienced.

Eventually Felicity detached keeping his hand in hand. "Ready to go home?" She asked holding back her excitement. Oliver just nodded. He was Just as excited as when he heard she was pregnant again. Time had gone by so quickly. In five months their family was going to grow a little bit bigger. He couldn't imagine life without his daughter. He couldn't imagine a better life, he had things now he never knew he wanted. Now that he found them he loved them and never wanted to go back.

They got to the house and their daughter came running at them at her top speed to greet them. They had named her Maribor after Oliver's favorite city in Slovenia. Her beauty did justice to her name. She was the spitting image of Felicity, but with the tenacity of Oliver. She was just like Oliver.

Felicity picket her up and leaned her against her side. Oliver couldn't help but reminisce. "You know, I never thought I needed children to be happy, but now that I have one I can't imagine life without them." He said facing at Maribor. "Now look at the little lady."

Felicity laughed and set her down. "Please Oliver, she's no lady. Going on camping trips and playing with the bow you made her; no she's her father's daughter. I can't stand camping."

"No WiFi?" He asked snorting at her. She laughed in agreement and rested her head against Oliver's shoulder.

"Yes. But I like that you can't hear any cars rolling by. That's annoying." She stated. This immediately alarmed Oliver.

"What? You love the sound of cars on the street passing by." He stated back sure that she was mistaken.

"No Oliver. I've never liked that sound." She said and headed for the kitchen.

"You always said you loved that sound. I remember!"

"Are you sure that want part of your dream thing that took over a year of our life?" She said, it was rather snippy. Felicity was usually snippy. After four years he still couldn't get much of anything straight it seemed. Things kept changing. Or he was. He was sure of this though, they had had a whole conversation about it. It was enough to put his guard up, but pretended like it didn't bother him even though it most definitely did.

He followed felicity into the kitchen where she was making herself a sandwich, it was all she ate while pregnant. "Are you going to come with me tonight?" He asked wanting to change the subject. Felicity froze in the middle of a bite. She hadn't been looking forward to the question.

"Uh, no." She swallowed. "Maribor can't go with us and I don't think I could handle it right now. I'm really busy rerouting the system for-"

"Dont bother lying or rambling, Felicity. If you don't want to go just say it." He told her sadly.

"Oliver, I don't want to go visit Tommy." She said leaning down her head. Oliver sighed but understood. He reached out and put his arms around her and she did the same. They weren't as close as usually because of her growing belly. He knew that if she came along she wouldn't be able to contain herself. She had a good reason to be emotional towards him. He was dying.

Tommy had been diagnosed with heart disease which he probably had all his life. But one heart attack while at the gym got everything in motion. All of his past doctors overlooked it, saying he only had a chance of getting it. Or they saw minor signs and didn't act. One heart attack later he was inc the hospital. No one knew if he would recover. Oliver and Felicity didn't have much hope.

One heart attack got him on the transplant list, but not as many people were donating organs as they should have when they die. People were getting buried with perfectly good hearts when they should be given to some one who still has a chance. Oliver thought they were selfish crooks, but not even a vigilante, or past vigilante could stop it.

Felicity leaned her head against his chest with her arms around Oliver. One Of his was around her, the other around his growing son. "They say he's not going to get a heart." He said quietly. "But we already knew that. Didn't we?"

Soon he arrived at the hospital and Tommy's room. He put on his best fake smile and walked in the room. It smelled oddly familiar. The smell of sterilizers and stiff bed sheets and, Felicity's perfume? It smelled just like it, as if she was standing right next to him, which was preposterous. The smell was just as apparent anyway.

Tommy was sitting up smiling at him. He looked frail and paler, but it was the same old Tommy. "How are you doing man?" He asked with his smile, terrified to hear the answer.

Tommy sarcastically laughed. "Fine, fine. It's fun to be a corps." He said with no ill intent. But the humor did not go by well with Oliver who was doing his best to keep up the act.

He let out an uncomfortable laugh. "Yeah, well I just wanted to see how my, corps friend, was doing. I just wanted to see you."

"Go be home with your wife, Oliver. 'll have plenty of company tomorrow. Laurel is visiting, hopefully alone." He winked. Oliver rolled his eyes at his humor.

"Felicity's fine. Right now best friend trumps wife. Besides, right now I don't get her. Things I remember still don't add up with her. With you the only different memory I have is you in laurel's office, lying under... never mind." He definitely didn't want to finish that sentence.

Tommy took a deep breath. "Oliver get over yourself. Go home to your wife. I know it was a longish drive but go home. Be with your family. Ill be here tomorrow." He said politely shooing him off. The only thing Oliver could think was ,' But what if you aren't?' But of course he didn't say it. He nodded and walked out getting o be last, good look at his friend.

But that night he saw him again. Lying under that pile of rubble, and himself crying over his dying body. It was a perfect memory. Everything was the same, the look, the smell, the heat. The heat of the fire was perfect. Too perfect to be regular dream mumbo jumbo. He would never forget the sight of that pipe sticking through Tommy's body and watching him bleed out until all the life sucked out of him. He swore he could see the spirit and life escape out of him in one instant. Only two seconds long, but the most memorable of Tommy in his memory. Now he was losing him all over again. How was he going to go through it twice?

In a second he was awaken by a ring of the phone. He first looked to the clock that read 3:54. He had only been asleep for three hours. The bright light of his cellphone seemed to blind him from reading the number so he just answered it; anyone calling that early had to be improtant, Dig used to call him that early, he thought.

Felicity was lying right beside him caressing her body into his. He sat up doing his best not to disturb her. "Hello?" He whispered, still a bit dreary.

"This is Starling General. We are very sorry to inform you that Thomas Merlin regretfully passed at 3:08 am this morning. We are so sorry for-"

"Thank you." He purposely interrupted them and hung up the phone. He threw it to the edge of the bed and buried his head into his palms. He was devastated. The worst feeling in the world was losing someone, and he had lost this someone twice! The new memory took over the old as he thought about how if he stayed a little longer they could have talked more, more things, been there! He had so much more to say to him. There wasn't enough time.

In the reality he remembered, he used to talk to Tommy as if he was there, not in prayer, to his grave. Whenever he was by it he would stop there and visit. It hurt so much when he died, he was surprised he didn't cry at his funeral. Whenever he thought about him it hurt to think it was his fault. It just hurt every time, but overtime it hurt less and less, until he could bury it. Now he had to do if all over Again.

He wanted to wait till the morning to tell Felicity. He laid back in bed but wanted her awake. He shook her gently. "Felicity."

* * *

_"Felicity." A faint whisper escaped. Felicity jumped. It was a sound she never thought she would ever hear. And for a second she thought it was her imagination, but she saw his lips move! _

_"Some one! Some one help!" She screamed drastically, not sure if she was falling apart or too excited to contain herself. Doctor Farmington and two nurses ran it immediately seeing his stats and brain waves._

_"Hes near consciousness!" He stated bewildered. He checked his stats to look for changes or reasons for why. "His prolactin hormones are higher than usual, much higher in fact. _

_"That's the hormone that induces tears and sadness?" _

_"Which means there could be a correlation." He said excitedly. _

_"What can we do? Is he going to wake up then?" Felicity asked too excited to hold anything back. _

_"I don't know. This could just be a sudden spike in energy. It happens with many patients. We call it the surge. A person who is inevitability ill gets a sudden wind, but it usually doesn't last. But this, I've never seen it with prolactin." _

_"So there's a chance?" _

_"Theres a chance." _

* * *

"Felicity." He said quietly. She jolted awake and smiled as he placed his hand on her stomach.

"Mmm. What?" She asked stretching and half asleep.

"We should name the baby Tommy." Even through the darkness he could see her smile grow bigger.

"That's a great idea." She grinned. She gave him a short kiss and she drifted back to sleep. It amazed him that a short kiss like that could make him ten times happier, even on one of his worst days.

* * *

_They waited an hour, but suddenly the levels started to go down. Felicity dropped her head down as Oliver slowly drifted back into his coma._

_But they did realize one thing... _The more upset he is in there, the closer he is to consciousness.

**I really hope you liked this chapter because I really loved writing it. Sorry if it's sad and you are mad about the character death, but it was a way to bring him back, just fit a moment. Which will let the story go farther. Review please! Favorite and follow if haven't already and if you want to. Thank you everyone for taking such intrest in my story!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated, I don't like taking such long breaks in my writing but school comes first for me always. Hope you like the chapter.**

_"I want to give you a reason to wake up Oliver. So what do you want? The company, Laurel, a bunch of criminals served to you on a platter? What do you want? I- I thought I knew you and what you liked, but I just can't see what you see." Her pleads were answered with only silence. She had banged her head into the door a million times, at least enough to leave a mark. No matter what she did she couldn't make time stop. Days were just flying by. Oliver was looking weaker, his muscles were deteriorating. He looked like a hollow of Oliver Queen. It made felicity want to cry. She couldn't stop his body from weakening or get his body to wake up. She was helpless. _

_"It's been three weeks since you talked back to me Oliver! Three weeks without a conversation, without seeing you laugh or be happy, or tell me about your day! What do you want me to do?" She yelled in frustration._

_"Three weeks out of three months, Felicity. It hasn't even been a month yet. Please stop being so sad. He's not the only one I haven't seen a smile from in a while." Dig as usual was sly and quiet with his entrances. He always seemed to be there at the worst and best times. Felicity knew he was watching over her. _

_Diggle quietly stirred his coffee while felicity huffed. Diggle was always the protector of both of them. Like the brother figure. He was always behind the scenes of every operation. No one gave him enough credit. _

_"What does he want from me?" _

_"Nothing Felicity! He's just in a coma. He's not trying to hurt you. He would never do that to you. You are so important to him." Dig argued._

_Felicity stood holding her shoulder with her hand. Everything Diggle was saying w as true but doctor Farmington also said that outside influence could help him, like a new neurologic stimulant they were using on him. _

_"I know I'm important to him. Not completely sure why." At this Diggle huffed. "I just keep thinking that if I say The perfect thing it might wake him up. I just don't know what to say."_

_Felicity was oblivious to the feelings Oliver had been sending off. But deep down she had a tiny feeling. Dig had always known of the attraction Oliver had towards her and didn't blame him. If he was younger he would be after her too. He felt more like her big brother and being her big brother he had to tell her the truth._

_"You know, Felicity he was very fond of you." He sigh putting it simply. If she was half as smart as he knew she was she would understand this. _

_Felicity blinked a few times as if it was news to her. "I thought it was all an act."_

_"No, Felicity. That boy cares for you a whole world more than you give him credit for. I think he nearly loves you. If there's anyone who can bring him out of this it's you." He came forward and embraced her in her shock. Giving her a kiss on the head as she hugged him back tighter and tighter. _

_"He never said anything..."_

* * *

Oliver was relieved that felicity was nearing her due date for Tommy. After losing his dear friend he needed something good to happen. For years he thought he had woken to a paradise. A place where his sister was in college living her life, his mother was still alive, he had a loving wife, and he wasn't the hood. But this was the first truly bad thing that had happened to him.

Of course there had been so many good things that toppled over that. From finding out he was married to a woman whom he had been secretly attracted to, to the birth of his daughter, Maribor. He loved her so much. She was the perfect Tom boy and more fun than he ever imagined. He never wanted any kids, but that was because he didn't know how much love they could give. And Maribor did love him. He hoped nothing would change after Tommy was born, which would be soon.

Felicity was only a week away from her due date. She was constantly uncomfortable and couldn't do much Maribor wanted to do, but she seemed so happy. And he was beginning to be again too, it has been three months since Tommy died and he knew life had to go on.

By evenings every day Oliver came home and was greeted by Maribor as usual, who was becoming more fun every day. This night was no exception. She ran immediately to him while Felicity stood in the kitchen doorway. She had taken this month and the last off. She enjoyed being alone with her daughter since they weren't nearly as close as Oliver was with Maribor.

He set Maribor down and walked over to felicity giving her a kiss on the cheek. She accepted it eagerly, but something felt, wrong. He loved kissing her no matter where it was, but a kiss on the cheek after a long days work, it felt wrong. It felt like it was abnormal. He found himself still trying to ease the strange sensation. That kiss didn't feel real, it felt like a dream, be didn't understand it. Felicity looked at him worried.

"What's wrong?" She asked bracing herself by putting her hand on his shoulder. Oliver put his hand to his head as a headache washed over him. Headaches had been a common occurrence lately. But the kiss, it didn't _feel _real.

"Just a headache. I'm fine." That was a lie though. Everything felt like it was plastic and fake lately, even beautiful, sweet Maribor. It had been years, years since his memories lapsed, but lately he kept remembering more of the life he remembered and thought he lived. He didn't want to think about it, the hood kept haunting his dreams, he never liked the hood. He had only been the hood because he felt a duty to the city, but if that hadn't been so he would never have been it. He was grateful everyday that his murders and the hood were all just false memories. All of a sudden though those memories he had easily blocked out were surfacing again. Maribor liked hearing the fictional stories of the hood, swooping up bad guys and saving the day with her mama. It was a way for Oliver to cope with the resurfacing, old, imaginary memories; but that didn't mean that he liked telling his three year old daughter cleaned up bloody tales of his imaginary past.

He had been telling Maribor the stories for a week. Once or twice Felicity stepped into the room abruptly to listen in while he wasn't noticing, but he realized it once he turned around. He had told her a few of the stories but not as many he had told Maribor who graciously listened. Felicity listened with an expression of concern on her face. Not because the stories were gory or anything, but because he was telling them again. It felt like one step forward two steps back, because she had barely heard of his imaginary life for a year, and now it was coming back and taking over.

As Maribor started to drift off, Oliver quickly ended the story and noticed Felicity standing behind leaning against the door frame to support her back. She had that look on her face, the one that told him they needed to have a talk. Oliver and her went into their bedrom. Felicity lay on her back with her belly exposed while Oliver sat up against the head board with his hand pressed on the top of her stomach.

"Is it because of Tommy? Is thAt why your old memories of that stupid fake life are coming back?" She asked coldly.

Oliver snorted at her tone. "It was six years! Six years of a different life. We've been over this a million times. The felicity I remember would have understood that." He said not accepting her not understanding.

"The felicity you remember?" She sat up in bed almost fuming. "You didn't marry the felicity you remember, you didn't have two kids with the felicity you remember!" Obviously Oliver regretted saying that. The felicity he met wouldn't speak like this, this was how his wife spoke and he liked that. It was how he would have wanted Felicity to speak her mind, and he had woken up to just that. She was right, he had two children with her, but also she was wrong, she never seemed to understand how hard it was for him.

"I know that. But I've had to relearn everything. Imagine if it was you who had woken up to a world that you didn't recognize."

"It's been over five years by far! You have to stop thinking about that life, you are never going back to it." Felicity said. It was an old argument and each were set in their beliefs.

"Its not like I want to go back to it! I don't want to go back to my mother being dead, and my sister being gone, and us just being friends, and me being the arrow! But when I hear your voice calling out for me in the middle of the night when I'm wide awake I can't help but think about it."

Felicity hadn't realized that the voices had continued to swim,in his head and for that she was concerned even more. "We should go to the neurologist. We can schedule it after my exam on Tuesday." She said quietly. Her voice had calmed with concern and she didn't want to provoke Oliver. He but his lip and nodded. She gave him a kiss on the head and a sad smile. "Let's get some sleep." she said. "Let me know if you hear anything tonight. He nodded again, but of course he wouldn't tell her the truth.

On Tuesday morning Felicity was scheduled for her final ultrasound. Tommy was fine but he wasn't the one she was worried about.

* * *

_Diggle had long gone home, but Felicity decided that just outside of Oliver's room would be a good place to catch up on work for QC. It was quiet in the hospital at these hours. Felicity had tamed most of the nurses into Acquaintanceship so most didn't give her a hard time anymore. _

_"Hi." Felicity heard and looked up immediately at the familiar sounding voice. It was laurel. "I was just coming to stop by and visit Oliver, I... had no idea you would still be here." She said. She looked like she had just gotten off of work. She was in a tan suit and red blouse, with a brown purse; she looked truly professional and radiant. _

_"Yeah, it's quiet here, and I just like his company I guess." Felicity blushed. She wasn't much of a talker especially in front of Laurel. She felt that they didn't get along. Laurel noticed her detachment. Felicity was hiding something and she knew it. _

_"What's wrong?" She asked. But Felicity shook her head. "Felicity, tell me." _

_It was hard for Felicity to keep these kinds of secrets, not of Oliver being the arrow. It was the small secrets she had a problem with. "Dig just told me something is all." Laurel waited for her to continue. She signed. "Dig told me that Oliver cares for me more than I thought. He thinks Oliver loves me." There was a lump in her throat. Laurel was the absolute worse person to tell and she immediately regretted telling her._

_ She looked at her face, and to her surprise, she didn't seem surprised at all. "Is that bad?" Laurel asked smiling._

_Laurel had seen the way Oliver interacted with Felicity from a far. It was the same way he used to be around her. She knew and she wasn't upset. She had let him go a long time ago. "I can't believe he didn't tell me." Felicity whispered. _

* * *

Oliver was wide awake in bed. Felicity was laying peacefully and silently next to him. His arms were across her body, he could feel how real she was and how aware he was. He was surely awake, he was sure of it.

"_Dig told me... He thinks Oliver loves me" _The voices were distant and faint, but they were there, he could hear them as if they were in the next room. It sounded like Felicity, but she was right there next to him! He was awake. He knew it because he was now standing from the shock and the voices kept speaking.

_"is that bad?" _he heard a second voice. It was Laurel! Oliver was sure of it.

_"I can't believe he didn't tell me." _it was felicity again. Oliver backed into the wall. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't know if he was going insane or what. Felicity was now sitting up and staring at him very terrified.

"This isn't right." He told her.

**It's been a long time since an update, sorry about that. I have school and that comes first. I am sooooooooooooooooo excited about the new season, I'm so excited! The next chapter is going to be a time jump just fyi. Thank you for all for the support please review and tell me if you like my story... or hate it or something you want to happen or something. Maybe I can add it. I read all the comments and yes, I know the spell check sucks on my kindle but there is nothing I can do except go over every line and I do that but sometimes I miss some stuff. Sorry. Please favorite follow if you want thank you for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is a big time jump. I wrote this a day after the last chapter update. I was really excited about the chapter. Sorry if you don't like when I jump but this is how the story goes. Hope you like it.**

The time had just gone by so fast. It felt like only yesterday Oliver had been forced onto an examination table by doctors to poke at him. He could remember the feeling of anger and frustration that overcame him as they forced a procedure on him that did utterly nothing. In some crevices of his damaged heart he blamed felicity. But he couldn't really, she had just been worried about him and the voices he had kept hearing.

After an exploratory surgery the doctors told him he should be fine, and so at every follow up,he said he was just that. But the truth was the voices and images he saw and heard never went away. Oliver after all these years on occasion still heard the voices. All he wanted to do was tell Felicity, after all these years though after the surgery he kept lying, it was for her own good. That was what he had to keep telling himself. They had enough problems. The city was going to hell.

He couldn't think of that though, not on a day like this. It felt like the years had just flown. Maribor looked as if she had grown up in a blink of an eye. She was already 14 years old. Oliver couldn't believe it as he saw her walk out of her room for her first high school archery tryout. She was only a head shorter than him already, her blonde straight hair fell just passed her shoulders, her contacts emphasized her blue eyes, she was just like her mother, with her father's personality and strength.

Her school was lucky enough to have an archery club that competed against other schools in the area. And since she was her father's daughter, she gained an interest in archery when she was barely three. When she was eight he got her her first real arrow package. Felicity insisted she be at least that age to handle the real weapons. The moment she put them against her bow she hit the target; she had been practicing for years. Now it was finally time to show off what she could do.

Oliver was stressed as it was. The company was falling apart along with the city and there was nothing he could do about it. Crime was a big part of it, but it wasn't all. It was the people. It was the lack of caring really. No one needed the city anymore, companies began moving away when new cities were offering more than Starling ever could. However, there was nothing in the world that could tear him away from helping his daughter practice.

"Good morning." She said greeting him with a smile, her arrows in tow. Oliver smiled and brushed his hand through his turning hair.

"You're gonna nail it, Mar."

They went out to the yard, which most would classify as a field. They went to the trees Oliver had marked over 15 years ago. The paint had warn in time and there were more punctures than you could count, they just kept painting over it. There were five trees each with a target painted on it. Oliver pulled out an arrow from his back and set up the bow at the same time Mar did. Then waited, and watched.

Effortlessly Maribor set her bow, aimed, and fired within three seconds. It hit the tree just a centimeter away from the bullseye. She smiled anyway and watched Oliver. He set his bow with a smile and fired at the same tree and got bullseye. It was the best feeling in the world, for him, the bow helped him think. Maribor smiled at him.

"Nice for an old man." She yelled teasing him.

Oliver coughed out a laugh. His hair was just barely gray. He wasn't even close to getting old, his hair was just aging faster than he was. "Oh please," he teased back, "I'll be impressed once you hit the bullseye kid."

Before he could blink Maribor had shot another arrow at the second tree, perfectly at the bullseye. She put her hand on her hip and smiled, cocky as hell. "The first one was to make you feel better about your old age." She stated. Oliver starred at the tree with a wide mouthed smile. He was so proud of his daughter, although, he could easily beat her in any archery competition.

* * *

_Every once in a while Felicity didn't go to visit Oliver every day. It was hard, but sometimes she needed time to clear her head. Especially on a day like this. The day marked two months remaining till they cut off Oliver. It had been one month exactly since he had fallen into his coma. _

_Felicity was sitting on the Starling pier. She was more angry than sad, but she didn't know at who. The only person who seemed to be able to wake up Oliver was Oliver, so why wouldn't he just wake up? She kept thinking this for the entire month as she watched him degrade and suffer. She had to think of what he was dreaming about, if he was really dreaming at all. "What the hell were you doing, Oliver?" She said under her breath. _

_The truth was no one knew exactly what Oliver was doing on the night of his accident. They knew he was going after the triad, but he hadn't contacted either her or Diggle until he already left. He was chasing the triad, but for what reason? What had they done that had provoked him; what were his intentions?_

_Diggle had arrived on the scene only to catch the last few minutes of the chase. Which meant he also saw his fall. How terrifying it must have been to witness, Felicity didn't know what she would have done. She wouldn't have acted so well that was for sure. But the question still remained. What was he doing that night, really? _

_It was getting cold outside and the sun was setting soon, but Felicity waited on the bench looking over the water. She was waiting for someone she hadn't seen in a while. She just needed someone new to talk to. Her friend had called her when he heard of Oliver's accident a week before, but Felicity wasn't strong enough to handle anyone else coming into her life at the time. _

_She smelled spiced coffee under her nose and looked up. Barry's hand was holding a Styrofoam cup above her head. His face gleaned her a smile and she couldn't help but smile back. It was very good to see him. He seemed just as boyish as she remembered him to be, which she liked. He wasn't like Oliver, he was free spirited and a fast thinker. _

_"You got here fast." She said opening up the conversation and accepting his coffee. "Did you come here on the train again?" _

_"No, on foot." She said flashing another smile._

_Felicity snorted a laugh. "You walked all the way to Starling from central city, on foot. Well that was fast." _

_He nodded and gulped down almost half of his coffee trying to avoid responding to her inquiry. "I really wanted to see you... and see Oliver, of course." He continued after an awkward pause. Felicity blushed. "You called. Of course I'd come." _

_"Technically, you called me." She said trying to make the conversation as technical as possible, and trying to block out all old feelings she had; but that was hard. "But I'm glad you did." She said coughing on her coffee._

_Barry looked at her kindly, the same way she always felt Oliver was trying to portray. "I owe Oliver a lot. You know he visited me three months ago in Central? He was telling me I was destined for great things. And I want to thank him for that. But that's not the only reason I'm here."_

_Felicity was all ears for the continuation of his story, but instead of his lips making words, they made their way onto hers for a kiss. He was there too quickly for her to react. He was too fast for eyes it seemed sometimes. She didn't react the way she thought she would, she kissed back, for a long time as the sun fell in front of them. She didn't want to stop. Then Oliver crept into her mind, and the thing Dig told her. And she had to withdraw. Barry looked surprised. "I'm sorry, I-" He started, but this time it was Felicity who was the fast one._

_"No, no." She interrupted. "Trust me. It's not you. If it was two months ago I would do this, a lot more of this. But it's Oliver, Barry. It's Oliver. I need to know what's going on with him, before anything like this happens." _

_Barry looked even more surprised now. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you and Oliver were together!" _

_"We're not!" She answered quickly. "Why would you think that? Uh, no not me and Oliver, not me and anyone. I, just want to know where he stands. Whether he's going to be alright or not. And until then I just can't focus on anything. Especially this." She rambled, and felt like this was a good excuse. There were elements of truth in her story but she didn't want to add the fact that Oliver did in fact have feelings for her. She wasn't ready to address her own yet, not for Oliver or Barry. "Do... do you still wanna see Oliver?" She asked him sheepishly. Barry nodded with a smile on his face, but it was a defeated smile. She had really hurt him and she knew it, but he did understand. "Come on, I'll take you in my car." _

_Barry hesitated. "Car? Oh, okay." He said and follows her. The truth was he hadn't had much need for a car in a while._

* * *

Oliver and Maribor walked back to the house together, their bows over Oliver's shoulder. He liked just being with Maribor and the long walk to the house gave him a good excuse to talk to her. Unfortunately he had a lot for in common and frankly a lot more fun with her than Tommy. He and Tommy had their good days but most of the time they were doing their own thing.

"Do you remember those stories you used to tell me as a kid? About the arrow." Maribor asked. Oliver coughed at the sudden inquiry, but he nodded wearily. "Were those really true?" She asked. Oliver was confused. His 14 year old daughter shouldn't be asking about whether or not fairy tales were real. However, it wasn't a fairy tale to him.

"Umm, that's a difficult question to answer, Maribor." He said trying to dodge the question. He was still struggling with his hysteria, he didn't want to drag her into it too.

"Was it a part of that other place you thought you came from?" She asked quietly.

Oliver stopped and stopped her with him. "How the hell do you know about that?" He asked her gritting his teeth.

"I heard you and mom talking about it as a kid, and every once in a while since then. Did you really live that life? Did you really lose five years of your memory?" Maribor asked.

He took hold of her shoulders and sighed. "I lost, years of my memory. And it was replaced With another life I thought I was living in its place. And it took me a while to straighten everything out. My memories made up the arrow I'm pretty sure." He said rubbing his face. He never wanted to have this conversation with Maribor. "That's all." He let her go.

"Oh." She said. Oliver started walking again. But Maribor stopped again. "Do you think you could make it true?"

"What?"

"In the stories you could do all the things I know you can really do. You're capable of all the things the arrow could do, even though you are older now. Could you be the arrow now?" She asked timidly. She was never timid.

"Why would I want to do that? Why would I ever want to do that?" He asked lowering his voice slightly aggravated; he hated this conversation.

"Because the city is going to hell, daddy. Just like in the story and the arrow saved it. He saved the day every time. I loved those stories. And we need the arrow in Starling right now." She said waving her arm towards the city scape.

Oliver bit his lip. His calmed himself a bit and tried to think of something to say to her. "Mar, I probably couldn't. I'm not the arrow, it was a story. That's all it will ever be. And even if I could it doesn't mean I would want to. In my memory I hated being the arrow. The arrow killed people, Mar. The arrow took something from me, and when I woke up to find that your mother was my wife, and found that the arrow wasn't real, it was the biggest relief I'd ever felt. And to know I was good enough for your mother made me feel that much better. It was those two things that gave me the strength to let go of that other life."

"What if it was the other way around? What if all this time this was the dream? What would you choose?"

It made Oliver sad to even hear something like this come out of his darling daughters mouth. However, he did pause to think of his answer. It was an interesting question. And for a moment he didn't know the answer; but then he looked to Maribor, now terrified to hear his answer, and he wouldn't choose the alternative. "You. I'd choose you every time. Never forget that Maribor. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "No more questions. And no telling Tommy, or your mother especially about this conversation. Let's get to the house and eat breakfast. You have a big day. And you are going to be amazing!" He told her. It lifted her spirits and they walked home.

After they came home from school and had dinner Oliver closed the door to his room with Felicity and him inside it. It was late and both if their children were already long asleep. He looked at Felicity. She hadn't aged a day in nearly eleven years. She had cut her hair and that was basically all. Now her hair went only just passed her neck and she usually wore it down. Her hair was the same beautiful blonde while his was slowly turning gray. Granted she was five or so years younger than him, but she looked amazing.

She was at the mirror combing out her hair as he came up behind her to inspect his. "Looking a bit more gray today I see." Felicity joked. Oliver hung his head down smiling on the inside. Felicity stood up and brushed her hand through it. "I like it, it adds a bit of distinction to you. It makes you look established. And besides that it makes you look sexy." She giggled. "Men seem to get better looking as they age." And she walked towards the bed. Oliver grabbed her and towed her back to him kissing the back of her neck. She seemed surprised but accepted it happily. His sudden show of affection was a welcome change. "What?"

"I just want you to to know how happy I am with you. Sometimes I fear you forget." He said kissing her again. Felicity turned and faced him, embracing his face.

"I've never forgotten. You are a good man, as a husband and a father. You, never forget that." She replied. Oliver smiled.

Their marriage was far from easy. Oliver was an especially difficult man to deal with despite felicity telling him he was good. The fact that she had put up with him all these years and loved him just the same just showed how strong she was. He was grateful for that.

Oliver took her arm, kissing her on the lips harder and harder. She kissed back as if it wasnt hard enough. Reluctantly Oliver removed his lips from hers and traveled down her neck as she rolled her head from one side to the other. His lips moved down further down her neck till he reached her collar bone. Felicity wrapped her arms around her neck and lifted her up from behind. With that Oliver lifted her up from behind and she wrapped her legs around him hissing his again on the lips. He led them to the bed with no intention of sleeping.

* * *

_Felicity took Barry to see Oliver. As always Oliver looked at least content. Barry stood over his bed, with an expression felicity had never seen on him before. Then she realized what it was. He was cringing; Barry had been in a coma too. He knew what it was like. Felicity had some how forgotten that little fact about him. And suddenly felicity felt the same way. She couldn't imagine what Barry was thinking at that moment. She didn't know what kind of coma he had had or what had happened during it. Frankly she knew nothing about it, he asked her not to ask and he didn't tell. But for this situation she couldn't stop her mouth from running._

_"Was it like blinking? Or a long dream?" She asked in a low voice. _

_His eyebrows raised as of he didn't know what to say, or didn't want to say. "Umm." He started. "I don't remember anything. Nothing. It wasn't quite a blink but it was close. That was what it was like for me. But my coma was different, Felicity. It could be anything for him." _

_Felicity bit her fingers trying to hold back her emotion. Barry wrapped his arm around her knowing that she'd probably immediately reject it. She didn't though. She welcomed his arm around her and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Two more months." _

**This is the longest chapter I have written for this story, just pointing that out because strangely enough this was the easiest chapter for me to write. I loved writing this chapter because I've been holding on to these ideas for a long time. I got the idea for this story from a star trek episode actually. I used to watch it with my dad ages ago. I really hope you loved reading this chapter just as much as I loved writing it. Please comment about what you think and about what you want to happen; I read every comment and want to implement what you have to say into the story. Follow and favorite if you want. Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9: Real

Maribor suggested Oliver go on the roof of his slowly failing company building. She always loved adventure but for some reason Oliver knew that wasn't part of her agenda. The girl had her head full of dreams and ideas when it should be filled with studies and her future. Of course he didn't really mean that, he loved her sense of adventure and her independents. But still, he hoped that she wasn't too curious.

They took the elevator up as far as it could go, but that didn't reach the roof. They climbed about three fights of stairs and opened the door to the roof of the building. At first Oliver didn't see anything special, but then he realized that was the point. Nothing was special or beautiful anymore. There were more closed buildings than open ones, and all looked run down and trashy. Even from over a hundred floors up Oliver could see the devastation that had risen from nothing. The city was indeed dying.

"See, daddy?" His daughter put it simply. From the dive buildings, to the sleezy stores, to the theft and violence on the streets, it was plainly clear to Oliver that his paradise was withering away. It looked so dirty, and so polluted that he could no longer see the stars. He didn't know how it could have happened, it was worse than the Starling he used to remember. In the distance he suddenly heard a scream calling for help. The scream was at the top of her lungs and heard clear as day, so loud that Maribor covered her ears either because of the pitch or the horrible things she was screaming. Oliver did not cover his, he just closed his eyes and waited for the scream to disappear into the night. To say that it did not pain him to hear it was a lie because it took all he had not to run to save her. But he was older now and far out of practice, hell, he had never been in practice since the vigilante wasn't real! He just had to keep reminding himself of that.

"What's your point, Maribor?" He asked sharply. She rolled her eyes.

"My point? The city is dying daddy! You're a powerful man, you can help."

"You're a seventeen year old girl Maribor, you have to stop believing in those stories. They aren't real."

"You used to think they were real too! And I'm not expecting you to fly down a zip line and shoot people, I'm saying you should use your wealth and position to fix at least a few things."

"I can't. The company is nearly broke. You're right the city is dying but I can't help it!" He said loudly. Maribor's eyes grew bitter and suddenly his eyes grew softer. "Please stop forcing me. The money we have is for you and Tommy to have a future whether or not this city is apart of it. I want you to do great things, and to do that we need to save the money we have for you."

* * *

_Doctor Farmington called Felicity in early to discuss a new option for Oliver. She asked Diggle to come along to help with the decision. It meant however that Felicity would have to miss a few hours of work. Walter, who had taken over in Oliver's absence had no objections. "I think it's time we cranked it up a notch. To neurogenic shocks." He told them. To Felicity, through all the doctor mumbo jumbo, it sounded like the exact same thing that almost killed him a month ago. They both stood there still, they didn't have any reason to go against the doctors idea. They were just worried. _

_"Don't worry," the doctor continued. "It is a little more invasive but less likely to cause any side effects." To this felicity nodded. Why not give it a try. It was better than doing nothing. _

_"Okay." _

_Within an hour all the equipment was set up in his room. They attach two devises to Oliver's temples and two more above those to monitor him. Everything they were trying was extremely experimental. There was no proven way to reverse a coma, but like everything else, they were willing to try anything. They wanted Oliver back, and the city needed him back._

_The devises were turned on which sent shocks to parts of Oliver's brain. You couldn't see it from the outside, but the doctors told them it was on. So far so good. It hadn't killed him yet at least. That was really all they could ask for. _

_An hour went by, and no changes except the occasional flare in Oliver's neural activity. They were going to keep it on over night. It didn't seem like it was working though. The flares were so faint to them... But to Oliver, they were much more._

* * *

Oliver wrapped his arm around his daughter and started walking to the stairwell. Looking back at his city, he kept wishing inside that he could do what Maribor wanted him to do. The arrow probably could help the city, but he didn't want to be the arrow. The arrow was a murderer, something that took away his humanity, and took away his ability to love without the fear of losing the person he loved. If he became the arrow he would always be looking behind his back, terrified that someone would hurt Felicity, or Maribor or Tommy. The arrow could save the city, but could also unintentionally kill his family too. It was best for him not to, and to just be a regular guy.

"On the way home you wanna go get some big belly burger?" Maribor asked.

"Sure, and Felicity will murder us when she sees we've gone."

"But we're going right?"

"Yeah we're going! A burger would-" Oliver looked down at the concrete rooftop and jump to see that it was shaking, the whole building was shaking! He looked all around him and saw that all the building were shaking, the trees and cars below, everything. It was like an earth quake. It was an earth quake.

He grabbed Maribor on her shoulder to steady himself and her as the quake passed. A few seconds later it stopped, only lasting ten or twelve all together. Maribor looked to Him removing his hand from her shoulder. "What?" She asked very confused.

"Did you not just feel that?" He asked astounded. Maribor gave him a quizzical look. "You-" he looked around. Everything was still, the people below seemed to have no recollection of the earth quake either. Had it been only him, or just his imagination? He knew he felt it, it couldn't have been just him. But to avoid a crazy stare from his daughter he didn't say another word. Although he wasn't going to let it go.

The night grew later and later. After Oliver returned home with Maribor, having already eaten dinner he climbed into bed with Felicity. She slept silently until he came and lay beside her. Immediatly, only half asleep, she turned around facing him and wrapped her arm around his neck while put his arm over her side. She nuzzled her head below his and rested it in the crevise of his shoulder.

"I'm glad your home." She said still mostly asleep.

"I am too. I'm sorry I haven't seen that much of you lately." He moved her torso closer, his arm now lower and on her bare skin. He kissed her softly on her cheek until she finally moved to kiss him on the neck, one of her legs now locked him his. She gave a small laugh, but Oliver knew she was too tired for anything really. He kissed her again. She gave a moan and went back to sleep a few minutes later.

Oliver lay wide awake for hours, holding her like this. Her hair was sweeping down her back, having grown back in the last few years. He could feel her breathing Against his chest, he could feel her chest up against his. Was he a crazy man, still? He had the most beautiful woman he had ever seen sleeping up next to him and yet he felt incomplete. He would never do anything to hurt her, but he didn't feel right, especially after the quake he felt. In her sleep her arm went lower down onto his shoulder. And she nuzzled into his arm. But it didn't feel right, it felt good, very good; but not right. Not real. She didn't feel real.

He had had this feeling many times since his memory lapse years and years ago. He didn't know why it happened. But he did know that the earth quake felt real, more real than anything he had felt in years. It was the realist thing, he hadn't noticed it until that point, but compared to it, everything else felt artificial.

The earthquake, the voices in his head, they seemed more real than Felicity's heartbeat that was right on his chest. She was so quiet, so beautiful, how could he believe that she wasn't real? And what did that even mean? She had to be real because this was his life and he had been living it happily for years. Things were changing fast but life was good. It was more realistic than being a crazed vigilante with a bow in retrospect. His whole other life seemed kinda ridiculous, he couldn't see himself having a secret lair in the basement of a nightclub, fighting crime with an army man and an IT girl with a certain skill for getting into restricted files. Being able to jump from rooftop to rooftop, saving lives and taking them at will and being able to shoot a target while on a zip line aiming for something fifty feet away, while struggling with feeling for three amazing women who he was afraid of getting too close to. He was a crazy man. Just not one too crazy for Felicity it love. He closed his eyes and started trying for some much needed sleep.

He slept for an hour or two but was woken by a strange sound, not a sound, a vibration. Oliver's eyes shot open and his body quickly unraveled itself from Felicity as another earth quake seemed to take over their house. Everything in his room started shaking, his light on the ceiling, his tables, things in the shelves, Felicity. But nothing fell, Felicity didn't even move. He watched frantic as the earth quake continued longer than the one earlier that night, but it eventually stopped and so did the shaking. Felicity hadn't woken up, she had only stirred as he was pulling himself away from her. As if she hadn't felt it. If it was strong enough to wake him it should have been for her.

"This isn't-"

* * *

_Another few hours went by, two of the neural __flares had occurred, one only a few minutes ago. Felicity jumped every time it happened thinking it would do something. But it didn't seem like anything was happening._

_She was on her surface looking up data on the companies stock since Walter had once again taken over. It was at least steady. He had bought back over 70% of the overall company for Oliver. Felicity loved Walter. He was a good boss to her and a good friend. He always asked about Oliver which was sweet since he was only his step son for a year. _

_She updated her tablet and closed the lid. She had spent enough time at the hospital that day and needed to get to work before noon. She grabbed her bag from Oliver's bed._

_"This isn't right." She suddenly heard. She jumped and there was good reason to. His lips were moving, not only that but his foot which had had her purse on top of it._

_"OLIVER!" She yelled louder than was necessary, but she couldn't contain herself. His eyes were still closed and he was still in a coma, but this was the first sign of progress they had seen in a long time. "Oliver please do you hear me?" She asked him now right at his head. She didn't know what to expect but his mouth did move into a half smile at her voice. "Oliver!" _

_The doctors had come in and were astounded. He was responding after all. "Its doesn't feel real." He said. This time much more jumbled as he started to fade away yet again. _

_"You're right it's not real! I'm real. Fight it!" She said and kissed him on his forehead without thinking. By that time he had gone back into the depths of his coma yet again. But suddenly everything changed for Felicity. He was in there. He could come back. And she wanted him to come back, because she felt like she was falling for him._

**Something may happen soon, that's all I am going to say. I hope you liked this chapter. I have a new story out about Oliver, Felicity and Laurel. To be honest I do like the Oliver and Laurel pairings because I did grow up with the dc arrow comics. Please review what you think of this story. Look at my other if you want and follow and favorite this one... if you want. Thank you all of you for the support of this story. There will be more chapters to come.**


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